


Branch and root

by tucuxi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-08
Updated: 2011-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-23 13:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/250661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tucuxi/pseuds/tucuxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neji practices taijutsu; Hinata gives her a little advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Branch and root

**Author's Note:**

> [For this prompt](http://genderbendjutsu.livejournal.com/1100.html?thread=4684#t4684) at the [](http://genderbendjutsu.livejournal.com/profile)[**genderbendjutsu**](http://genderbendjutsu.livejournal.com/) meme.

Neji finished the taijutsu forms Guy-sensei had assigned her, having opted not to walk around Konoha on her hands. She set her feet, about to start running through some of the Gentle Fist movements she'd cobbled together from bits and pieces of illicit observation, stolen moments spent watching her cousins Hinata and Hanabi practice with Hiyashi-sama.

Neji pushed down the bitter curl of jealousy that sought to expand within her, shoving it away with the ease of practice. Hyuuga Hinata was unworthy to be the Hyuuga clan heir - everyone knew it. Reticent, shy, and only moderately talented at the use of the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist, there was talk of him being passed over for his younger sister, Hanabi.

Hanabi was sharp and fast and talented for her age, just like Neji. She learned quickly and excelled at the Academy, just like Neji. And people underestimated her because of her gender, just like Neji. But Hanabi got personal lessons in the Gentle Fist every day, from her father.

Neji gritted her teeth and swept her left arm around in front of her, palm up in the traditional starting stance that she hadn't known until she was seven. The forms she put herself through were clumsy, missing the connections from strike to strike, sharper-edged than they ought to be. But Neji allowed herself to sink into the movements, to stop thinking and just feel the flow of chakra within herself, focusing it in a palm, an elbow, the sole of her foot. And then the gravel behind her crunched.

Neji froze; she turned around to see Hinata watching her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"What can I do for you, Hinata-sama?" Neji allowed herself to fall into an unthreatening posture, hands clasped before her, the picture of a proper branch house woman greeting the heir, head bowed and eyes averted.

"I-" Hinata swallowed. "You're doing some of the-"

He took a single step forward, then extended his right arm before him, palm flat. Neji glanced at him. He made a circling gesture, clockwise, the movement almost imperceptible. "It's like this."

"Why are you showing me this?" Neji asked, wary. It wasn't forbidden to teach members of the branch house, but there were techniques reserved for the main house, and she was almost certain this was related to one of them.

"You seemed." Neji waited, accustomed to Hinata's pauses. "Lonely, maybe. I thought maybe this would help?"

Neji said nothing.

"I know it's the anniversary," Hinata offered. "I thought maybe we could-"

"Why?" Neji's voice was harsh in the evening's silence. She had gotten through the entire day without anyone mentioning her father's death: that the cause of it should bring it up now _hurt_.

Hinata stood silent, but the sympathy in his eyes was clear. That Hinata, of all people, should be pitying her, made Neji's stomach clench.

"You deserve-" Hinata started, and for the first time in years, Neji dared to interrupt.

"You don't owe me anything, Hinata-sama," Neji spat. "I'm branch house: that's exactly what we're here for, isn't it, Hinata-sama?" She wished she dared turn her back on Hinata, but she had no doubt that such an act would be punished, even if Hinata didn't seem to care.

"I'm sure the Hyuuga heir has more valuable things to do with his time," Neji said, viciously polite. She knew Hinata doubted himself, especially today, when everyone looked at him askance remembering his kidnapping not so many years ago.

Hinata gasped and turned away.

When he had gone, Neji set her feet and ran through the forms again, incorporating the small circling gesture and hating it when that made her chakra flow more smoothly, filled in the gaps between some of her movements and unified others. It didn't fix everything, but it fed into her posture and eased some of her tension.

 _I will always be branch house,_ Neji reminded herself, feeling the brand on her forehead as if it were new. _I will always be in this cage._


End file.
